• Home
  • Mission of This Site
  • Contact

Impeachable Offenses?

~ Examining the Case for Removal of the 45th President of the United States

Impeachable Offenses?

Tag Archives: memo

Nunberg Considers Refusing Mueller’s Subpoena

06 Tuesday Mar 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

advisor, bannon, bloomberg t.v., campaign, contempt, court, Emails, former, grand jury, Impeachment, investigation, memo, Mueller, nunberg, Obstruction of Justice, of, roger, sam, steve, stone, subpoena, trump

Sam Nunberg, former campaign adviser for President Trump, has said that he intends to refuse to comply with the subpoena that was issued to him by Mueller’s investigation. Nunberg seems not to take so much issue with the idea of testifying against Trump, whom he is “not a fan of,”  as he does spending time going over the emails that he exchanged with Steve Bannon and Roger Stone. He is quoted as saying”I think it would be really really funny if they wanted to arrest me because I don’t want to spend 80 hours going over emails . . . .” Nunberg also said he is planning to appear on Bloomberg TV to tear up the subpoena.

The Mueller investigation issues grand jury subpoenas to obtain interviews and documents. Grand Jury Subpoenas are governed by Rule 17 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Rule 17(g) of the FRCP holds that a person refusing to comply  with a subpoena may be held in contempt of court. Section 402 of title 18 of the U.S. Code describes when contempt may be considered a crime:

Any person . . . . willfully disobeying any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command of any district court of the United States or any court of the District of Columbia, . . . . if the act or thing so done be of such character as to constitute also a criminal offense under any statute of the United States or under the laws of any State in which the act was committed, shall be prosecuted . . . . and shall be punished by a fine under this title or imprisonment, or both.

So, what that says is that if in refusing to comply with a court order one commits an additional crime, they are subject to a fine and imprisonment. But has Nunberg committed a crime? He would if he were to actually follow through with his plan to tear up his subpoena on Bloomberg TV. Section 1519 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code reads:

Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

So, this law makes destruction of documents related to a federal investigation a crime. Additionally, the mental state written in this statute is pretty broad: one need only intend to “impede, obstruct, or influence” an investigation. If Nunberg is using the destruction to demonstrate his contempt, it is arguable that in so doing that he intended to impede or influence Mueller’s investigation. So, if Nunberg were to refuse to comply with Mueller’s subpoena, and in so doing destroyed his subpoena, he could be charged with criminal contempt, as well as punished for the destruction of the document itself.

Luckily for Nunberg, however, he thought better of this course of action. He conceded late Monday that he would cooperate with Mueller. Considering the possible ramifications of his actions, that seems a wise choice.

05-sam-nunberg.w710.h473.jpgPhoto: MSNBC

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Bombastic Words about “Bombshell” Texts

08 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bombshell, Collusion, Conspiracy, defraud, dossier, FBI, impeach, memo, nunes, page, partisan, russia, strzok, texts, trump, united states, vindicate

President Trump has claimed that the text messages which were exchanged between FBI Agent Strzok and FBI Lawyer Lisa Page are “bombshells.” The text messages were likely related to the investigation of the Clinton Email Scandal. While others have expressed concern over what the text messages indicate about the way the FBI handles cases, President Trump did not specify what he meant when he called the texts “bombshells.” Though one might argue that the text messages indicate that there is an “Anti-Trump bias” in the FBI, they are a clearer indication of a lack of professionalism than they are of anything else.

Trump’s calling the texts “bombshells” is a part of his pattern of using any discrepancy within the FBI to characterize the investigation of his obstruction of justice and attempt to defraud the United States as misguided. He made similar claims after the release of Nune’s memo, stating that it “totally vidicates” him, despite the fact that memo did little more than allege possible partisan bias in a dossier used to obtain a warrant. It seems Trump will take what distractions he can get. Meanwhile, I am eagerly awaiting the results of Mueller’s investigation — for the truth covered by all these pointed fingers.

download (2).jpegSusan Walsh/AP Photo

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Blog Owner

Frank O. Bowman, III


Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law
University of Missouri School of Law

Web Profile

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Professor Bowman on Impeachment »

Bibliographies

Explore bibliographies categorized by author and subject, and find other resources.

Posts by Topic

  • The Case for Impeachment
  • Defining Impeachable Conduct
  • Impeachment on Foreign Policy Grounds
  • Impeachment for Unfitness
  • Obstruction of Justice
  • Abuse of Criminal Investigative Authority
  • Election Law Violations
  • Foreign Emoluments
  • Conspiracy to Defraud the   United States
  • Politics of Impeachment
  • Lying as an Impeachable Offense
  • Abuse of Pardon Power
  • Electoral College
  • House Impeachment Resolutions
  • The Logan Act
  • The Mueller Investigation
  • Impeachment of Missouri Governor Greitens
  • Historical Precedent for Impeachment
  • Messages from Professor Bowman

Student Contributors »

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Impeachable Offenses?
    • Join 204 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Impeachable Offenses?
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: